updated 12:00 am EST, Tue January 4, 2011

Lenovo outs IdeaPad Y470, Y570 with SSD, HD combos

Lenovo's PC updates on Tuesday were headlined by two IdeaPad notebooks that claim to be more responsive than even the MacBook Air. The 14-inch Y470, as well as the 15.6-inch Y570 and Y570d, each have the option of a 32GB or 64GB SSD for the OS alongside a regular hard drive. Along with Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors and optimizations to the boot process, they can start in as little as 10 seconds, versus Apple's 15 seconds, while still holding as much as 1TB of regular space.

All of them are high-performance models that start out with at least a 2.1GHz Core i3 but can scale up to a 2.7GHz Core i7. They also have the option of the brand new GeForce GT 555M for a much improved Fermi graphics core and, on the Y570d, get a 3D-capable display and matching glasses. They can likewise have up to 8GB of RAM and a Blu-ray drive, although they only have a maximum four-hour battery life in return for the speed.

Design is also relatively unique for the category with uncommon metallic colors and built-in JBL speakers. Lenovo's unveiling comes very early and won't see the Y470, Y570 or Y570d ship until May, when they start at $900.

May is more than 15 seconds away

The real story here

"... although they only have a MAXIMUM four-hour battery life in return for the speed."

Emphasis mine.

So let me get this right: I have to wait till May to pay a little less for a fugly MacBook Air knockoff that doesn't run OS X, but incorporates technologies the next Air will likely use when its unveiled in (probably) late spring/early summer), making it temporarily a little bit faster ... but with no useful battery life.

I miss OS on ROM

3 thoughts

- These are higher performance Notebooks. Don't compare to the MBA
- Win7 boot time is better than before (XP/Vista)
- You will see 10s boot times during the first week when you're lucky. Start actually using the computer and it will go up. Windows still sucks in this respect. Actual use and installing software, drivers, etc. slows down the computer over time.